A honorable calling which is thankless and low paying. Also, a job dealing with the ignorant, the drunk and the stupid. Usually spending long nights away from family dealing with donut jokes from people who have no clue, getting spit on and disrespected while wasting time on charges that will be dismissed anyway by a chickenshit DA in a pinstripe suit the following month. Originally From the latin, "beatemus et releasus" (beat and release).

A person whose job it is to enforce the laws passed down by the government. As in any job, there are good and bad police officers. Often sworn at for issuing speeding tickets by the ignorant who fail to realize that more people die in automobile accidents each year than in weapon violence; usually speed is a factor. Usually thankless job, until someone finds themselves needing the police, at which point attitudes often change.

The police issued a ticket to the businessman for doing 100 in a 40 zone.

A usually normal person sometimes given too much power. While police are definitely a necessity in any civilized society (in at least one form or another), in our 'nanny state' nation cops are known for giving people tickets for going too fast, commonly when there's no one in danger, busting up teenage parties, and arresting people for smoking marijuana who are not infringing on the rights of others. They have also been used as an excuse for gun control, except that in reality you need to be able to defend yourself and not rely on someone else.

Many people hate cops because of the 'pig' stereotype. There certainly are many who fit this; pushy, angry, forceful, et cetera. While it is important to be able to keep track of someone, it's not right to resort to extreme measures for bizarre reasons of 'safety' when there is no direct threat present. Also, as described before, many people hate cops because they frequently waste peoples' time with bureaucratic nonsense instead of truly protecting the people from dangerous criminals. However, this is more related to bad laws and flaws in a greedy and shortsighted system than the officers themselves.

Ex. 1: The police had a typical day; they gave five hundred tickets to irritated motorists, and arrested some kids for underage drinking at a party. (common)

Ex. 2: Wow, that police officer really saved our life! It really seemed as though that guy was going to kill us! (rare)

People who for the most part work their asses off 12 hours a day for people who will never understand half of the thing they have to do, half of the things they have to know, why they do what they do, or why it needs to be done.

They are constantly harassed by the lowest form of life on this planet, yet go out there day after day protecting your sorry asses from people who are sick and tired of your shit, and who if it wasn't for the Police, would be in the process of killing you, if they hadn't already.